


Dear Violet Eyes,

by toast4toast



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Aromantic Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), I Don't Even Know, Implied Sexual Content, Infatuation, M/M, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sexual Content, Shy!Keith, Slow Burn, Theater!Lance, klance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-26 19:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12065199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toast4toast/pseuds/toast4toast
Summary: Lance, Hunk, and Pidge are roommates in a crappy apartment that they have to share to get by for college. Lance likes to explore the new city he lives in. He meets an interesting new person on a particular outing.





	1. Day One, School

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Thanks for clicking in :) Just a little foreword, I guess. I am currently in high school and homework is a bitch sometimes. I plan to update every few days or weeks or so. I want to make each chapter a bit longer like this first one is, so it might take a while to write :) I enjoy comments and will reply to every one, so make sure to drop some down there every now and then! Okay, enough rambling. Enjoy!!

I opened my eyes groggily, rubbing the sleep from my face. The light streaming through the window in my room cast a blue-ish tone over everything.  _ It must only be seven. Damn, I was supposed to sleep in today. I don’t have class until one.  _

The first day of College had me scrambling for the past few weeks, but now that it’s the ‘big day,’ I couldn’t care less. My family was disappointed that I went out-of-state even though there was a perfectly good school nearby.  _ Sorry, Mom. I just had to go here.  _

This place had the best theatre program in the world- The  _ galaxy  _ even. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity when I got a full-ride. 

The only thing that  _ was  _ making me even a little nervous was the fact that I knew  _ nobody _ . Not a soul.  _ Isn’t it supposed to be super difficult to make friends in college? No one ever says “Hey! This is my best friend ‘loser face’ from  _ college _. We were just in one class together, but we always had each other's’ back!” Like, that’s nice, Nancy. You’re full of shit.  _

 

I swung my legs over the side of my bed, and looked around the blue tinted room, examining my poor decorating job. My bed shoved against a wall, my desk opposite. A dresser between them with an assortment of pictures of my siblings and healthcare items. 

Various musical and straight show posters covered the walls, as well as a few shelves with random cards and statuettes. It surprised me how many people congratulated me on getting in with cards, like it was a shock. They’re expensive, too, like those super glittery ones you can only get from card stores that have a dedicated section for them. 

_ Okay, that’s enough looking, I have all year to do that. Right now I  _ really  _ need some tea. Unfortunately, I have no idea where my tea kettle is. Alright then, time to find a café. _

I stood up and walked to my dresser, rummaging through what clean clothes I have.  _ No, no, no, no, too green, not blue enough, too much red, perfect!  _ I settled for a simple white shirt with blue hems, a jacket from my closet, and a pair of jeans. I decided on some sneakers for shoes. 

Before leaving, I opened the blinds to let in some more light. I’d be back before long and the sun would be up by then.

_ Okay, time to endure the roommates . . . _

I took a deep breath and exited my room, ready to be jumped by the two other people I shared this place with. Much to my surprise, only one was actually in the kitchen, the other’s bedroom door was still closed. 

“Heyo. You’re up early,” They said, shoving a spoonful of something warm into their mouth,

“Yeah, uhh, Katie? Was it?” I asked, scratching the back of my neck.  _ I should take a shower when I get back. _

“Yep, call me Pidge, though. We  _ are  _ living together, after all.”

“I guess we are,  _ Pidge.  _ Hey, what’s your major, by the way?”

“Me? Oh, uh. I have two. Computer Science and Physics. What about you?”

“Oh, jeez. I feel significantly less important now.”

“Ha! No worries, I’m sure yours is fine!”

“Yeah, I’m here for Theatre Arts . . . ”

“Really? That’s so cool! Our other roommate, Hunk, does Aerospace Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering,” She commented, taking another spoonful of whatever she was eating.

“Damn, I feel super dumb all of a sudden.”

“Aw! Don’t! I know that’s easier said than done, but trust me, Engineering and Computer Science isn’t for everyone. It’s super cool that you’re in Theatre Arts. What specifically do you do?”

  * “Oh, I act.  Not too into musicals, but I love Wicked and Les Mis. I was Fiyero in Wicked when I was in high school.”



“Nice. Well, I can see that you were actually going somewhere, so I’ll let you go.”

“Yeah! About that, I was just going for some tea, did you want anything? I’m coming right back, so it’s no trouble.”

“I’d love a hot chocolate! Thanks for asking!”

_ “Get me an espresso!”  _ A muffled voice called through a closed door.

“I assume that’s our other roommate?” I asked Pidge. 

She chuckled and called back, “Hunk if you want our very gracious roommate to get you a coffee, come introduce yourself first!” And, quieter, “Sorry, he’s a bit . . . ” she trailed off as Hunk burst through his door wearing boxers and a yellow shirt and a huge grin.

“Hi! I’m Hunk! Espresso,” Then he turned right back around and shut himself in his room.

“Nice to meet you too! I’m Lance, by the way!” I tried. 

_ “Espresso!” _

“Well, I’ll be right back with your Hot Cocoa-”

“No. Hot  _ Chocolate _ . There’s a difference.”

“There is? Aren’t they both the same thing?”

“Hot Cocoa is made with water, Hot Chocolate is made with milk.”

“Wait, seriously? Next thing I know you’re going to say that Oxygen is poisonous!”

She thought for a second and ended up with an ‘I don’t see why not’ face.

“No. Don’t you dare,” I said, spinning around and heading for the door.

“If you think about it, Oxygen does cause rusting!” She called after me. 

_ Too much knowledge for so early. _

 

I shut the door behind me and headed for the elevator, pressing the ‘down’ button and stepping back when I got there. A woman stepped out when the doors opened. She had long white hair and dark skin. Her eyes were bright and happy, and her smile matched. 

“Good morning!” She beamed as she brushed past me. I stepped into the elevator and watched her disappear. 

I pushed the ‘lobby’ button and stepped back, leaning my head against the wall and crossing my arms. When the doors opened again, I exited and a small crowd entered after me. One person had a small tuft of white hair while the rest was black.  _ Man, what is it with people and white hair?  _

I left the building and took a right, heading for the café on the corner of the street. There wasn’t much around here, but at least there was a decent place to get tea. 

I walked inside and was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of ground coffee beans. I took a place in line and looked up at the menu.  _ Hot Chocolate for Pidge, Espresso for Hunk, English Breakfast for me.  _

When it was my turn to order, the woman behind the cash register winked at me.

“What’s your order, handsome?”

“Flattered, I’ll take a Hot  _ Chocolate,  _ one Espresso, and an English Breakfast, please.”

“Comin’ right up, sweetheart.”  _ Do people really say that? That’s so weird! I don’t know how someone can go around calling strangers ‘sweetheart’ all day.  _

“‘You new? You look fresh,” She commented, scribbling on one cup with a Sharpie.

“Yeah, the first day of classes. Getting stuff for my roommates because I wanted a tea.”

“The tea is for you?” She asked, disregarding everything else I’d said. 

“We- Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say. She was obviously flirting. Normally this would be a fine situation, but the people in line behind me were getting grumpy.

“Yeah, anyway, can I have my drinks? I kinda have to get back.”

She grumbled something and her flirty smile disappeared. She handed me my drinks in a cup holder after I paid. The tea had something crossed out.  _ Not the best first impression. Not that I’d be interested. Just a bit too flirty for my taste. _

 

By the time I got back to the apartment, Pidge had cleared her bowl, and Hunk was still in his room. 

“Drinks!” I called, setting them down on the counter. I pulled mine out and set it at a seat. Heading over to the pantry, I grabbed a box of some cereal and grabbed a bowl. Nobody had bothered to get cold things of any sort other than a case of Dr. Pepper, so I had it dry. 

I made a note on my phone to go grocery shopping if I got out of classes at a reasonable time. I didn’t work today, so after class, I was free to do whatever. 

Hunk emerged from his room and headed straight for his Espresso. 

“Thanks,” He started, looking at me, “I like you. I’ll remember this.”

“Dude, I only got you a coffee.”

“Yeah, but. It’s 8:30. In the morning. No one human goes out before at  _ least  _ eleven.”

“But, you were up before seve-”

“Shhh. Let me have this.” he held out a finger and slowly backed into his room, eventually closing his door.  _ At least Pidge is normal.  _

“Hey, Lance? You back yet?” She called.

“Yeah, you want your Hot  _ Chocolate _ ?”

“Actually, yes. Yes, I do,” She responded, bounding around the corner to grab it. 

“Oh, sweet precious chocolatey drink. This is actual gold. Scientists should start calling it Au.”

“Oh, such cringe. That joke was so bad that it could make a lemon grimace.”

“Ay, that was good.”

“See. This is the difference between a good play on words and a bad joke.”

“Okay, but mine was good.”

“Fine. But it really wasn't” 

 

Pidge and I talked for a little while longer before we both realized that it was eleven.

“Do you have anything else that you want to do today before your classes?” Pidge asked, tossing her cup into the trash under the sink. 

“Uh, yeah. I want to shower and then I might wander around campus for a bit before going to class.” I replied, doing the same with my cup. 

“Solid. I might do the same, but I my classes start at 2:30. I think Hunk slipped out a bit ago while we were talking.”

“That’s cool. I’m glad that we got a chance to talk! Have a good day, Pidge!” I responded, pushing my chair in and walking to my room, closing the door behind me. I stripped down and placed my clothes on my bed so I could change back into them after. 

Turning the water on, I stood back to let it warm up.  _ The heating in this apartment is crap. That’s probably why rent is so low. Also the fact that there are various strange stains everywhere. And the whole building smells like a Halloween store.  _

When the water  _ was  _ warm, I stepped in and immediately sighed at the welcome heat. It was only September, but it was already getting cold. Like, 43 ℉  at night cold. 

I decided to stick with my strange-but-good combination of strawberry shampoo and mint body wash for this year again. People made fun of me for it Junior year of High School, but let’s just say that it attracted more people than it deterred. Not that! Oh man, not that I had like a bajillion significant others in High School, just that a lot of people wanted to date m- You know what? Nevermind. I had strawberry shampoo and mint body wash. End of story.

High School dating life is a story for another time. 

After my shower, it was still only 11:30. I decided to explore and see if I could find a suitable place to eat lunch, figuring that it would take about thirty minutes to get somewhere halfway-decent. I brought my backpack with me just in case I didn’t make it back before class started. 

I only had three classes, but the first two were right after each other, with fifteen minutes in between. They were in the same building, though. My third class was across campus and I had forty minutes to get there. All-in-all it was decently structured. I had Performance Histories & Studies, Performance Theories, and Theatre. In that order. 

It was a pretty solid schedule and I was excited to start. I just needed to find lunch first . . .

I said a quick goodbye to Pidge and headed back out. Walking down the street, I eyed restaurants that lined them. Some producing smells that were too good to be true, but I only had so much money. And it was my first day. Couldn’t go blowing this month’s money allowance on fancy seafood. My mouth started watering when I noticed a New York-style corner sign. Remembering the great taste of garlic knots, I wandered in, hoping they had my favorite food.

My stomach grumbled as I read over the menu; Street Dogs, NYC Pizza, Garlic Knots, and more outrageously delicious-sounding foods were plastered poorly on a series of old lightboxes. The whole vibe was very much so niche. With diner-style tables and bar stools, those cool metal and plastic napkin holders you only seem to see in movies and bad TV shows. It was incredible. 

I gleefully walked up to the counter and greeted the man behind the counter. 

“Hey, I’m Keith. Welcome to whatever. What do you want?” His facial expression radiated boredom, but his eyes wandered. Big and open like space, they were bright violet.  _ Holy shit this dude is gorgeous.  _

I must have been staring because his brows furrowed and he tilted his head just slightly to the side, “Hey, man. You cool? What can I get you?”

“Uhh, you.”

“What?”  _ Shit. _

“Sorry, I was- uh . . . thinking.  _ You  _ can get me an . . . umm . . . an order of Garlic Knots, please. Oh, and a medium Sprite. Yeah.” I wrung my hands and wiped them on my jeans.

“Sure thing, man. Your order is number 17. Please wait over there.” He gestured vaguely over to a series of beaten up chairs and old tables that were sticky with soda. I took a seat in the best looking stool and admired the cashier from there.

_ He’s beautiful. I mean, he  _ does  _ have a mullet which is a bit weird for this time but still . . . _

I pulled out a small notebook I kept in my back pocket and starting writing this down:  _ ‘Keith. Violet eyes. Works at corner NYC Restaurant. Black hair, mullet. Violet eyes . . . Dear Violet Eyes,’  _

I’d been working on trying to find something to write about for a while. I love theatre, acting, and writing short stories. I decided fairly quickly that I preferred acting over writing, but I still try to get things out every now and then.  _ Dear Violet Eyes,  _ It had a nice ring to it. But what would I write about? I couldn’t make it  _ too  _ specific because he was such a unique person anyone could spot him for a mile. 

I’d write letters. That’s it! I’ve known for far too long that I become infatuated with people very quickly, so this couldn’t turn into that. It would simply be a collection of letters. Not to  _ him  _ per se, but about- No, this is dumb. I’ll just eat my Garlic Knots and go to class. Maybe grab a stick of gum before that, though. 

Keith called my number and I hopped over to grab my tray. 

“Thanks,” I winked as I took it, sauntering back to my chair. I almost spilled the Sprite sitting back down, but managed to still it before it flew over the edge of the cup. I still had about twenty minutes before I had to start walking anywhere, so I took my time, thinking about Mr. Violet Eyes and my Garlic Knots which, by the way, were  _ fantastic.  _

 

After finishing my food, I dropped my tray off and headed out. Stealing a glance back at the raven-haired man and catching him looking right back. He blushed slightly and I smirked.  _ Okay, Lance, enough flirting for today. It’s not even one yet. Which is actually a good thing because if it was, then I’d be late for my first day! _

 

I got to class with a few minutes to spare, but the teacher was already introducing himself, “Good afternoon, class! My name is Lotor, but you can call me Mr. L or whatever you’d like. I went to school at . . .” He continued talking about himself up until class was supposed to start, then he jumped right into teaching. Or- well . . . Lecturing? I don’t really know what to call it. Explaining is probably the best word for it. 

“I have a syllabus on my website, which is up here,” he said, pointing to a white board, “ It’s technically twenty-five pages long, but you only have to read the first three and sign the last two. The stuff in between is only there because it legally  _ has  _ to be.” A few people giggled at that but I didn’t understand what was funny about it. 

Classes went on like this, teacher introduction, bad joke, lecture, ‘see you tomorrow.’ Very cut-and-dry.  Not that I complained, it made it easier. No dumb personal introductions or awkward ice breakers that every high school teacher seemed to  _ love.  _

Between my second and third classes, I sat on a bench and just looked at nature and the birds. Admiring the green leaves that were just turning soft shades of yellow. Some already shifting to red. It was peaceful; there were a lot of trees and a soft breeze blew through every now and then, rustling the transitioning leaves. Some dry, some not, creating an interesting noise. 

 

After all of my classes, I trudged back to my apartment. When I got to the door I rested my head against it as I fit my key into the lock. Hunk was splayed out on the couch playing a video game, Pidge was watching from behind, intently examining the images on the TV. 

“Oh, the horror!” I said monotonously, rubbing my face, “get a room! I’m sooo disturbed. Ahh, scarred for life.” Pidge responded by throwing a pillow at me, not breaking her gaze at the screen. 

“Yeah, yeah. Goodnight to you too.” I shuffled to my room and barely ditched my pants, jacket, and shoes before collapsing onto my bed; Almost asleep before my head hit the pillow. 

 

**_*Beep beep beep*_** _Ughh, nooo. Why on Earth did I bother setting an alarm, anyway?!_


	2. Day Two, Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day two of Lance and the gang at college. Lance disturbs the morning with a small mess, talks with Keith a bit more, and comforts Pidge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey! Sorry for the wait! I had a lot to do the past few days and wrote the majority of this on my phone when I could! I'm so so glad that people like this! I got a super nice comment on the previous chapter that absolutely made my day, I could not stop smiling :) Thank you to haikcute for motivating me to get this chapter out! Enjoy :D

_ I haven't seen someone that I immediately liked before. Everyone else seemed to have taken to a few months or so,  _ I thought, sitting on the edge of my bed. I had just woken up to my alarm; It was ten.

_ No point on getting up at seven if I'm just going to tool around for three hours.  _

At least the day before had been successful. I had found a . . . Muse? Is that the right word? It sounds too pretentious or too . . . Definite. I will admit, I had a  **huge** crush. That much was true. 

Since I had a few hours, I shoved myself off my bed and - neglecting to change out of my tee and boxers - hopped into the kitchen and straight into Hunk, who was attempting to open a container of raspberries. Needless to say, Hunk and I went one way, raspberries went . . .  _ Everywhere.  _

“Oh, man. Hunk . . . I'm  _ so  _ sorry . . .” I tried, brushing a few crushed berries from my thighs. 

Hunk sighed and stood up, soon bending over to pick up the mess I made.

“Hey it's cool, but I  _ just  _ got these. Like literally just got back from the store.”

I grimaced at his comment as I poked at a blooming red stain on the white part of my shirt. 

“I'll bring you a new container after my classes, I promise. Do you like garlic knots? I'll bring some of those too.  _ Damn _ , I'm sorry.” 

“Hey,” he said, placing hands on my shoulders, “it's cool. Don't worry about it. You got me an Espresso”

“But-”

“Sh, No talking,” he moved one of his hands over my mouth. “It's fine.” 

“Woah, are you guys into some kinky shit or something? I've never heard of raspberries but . . . “

“Pidge! No, nononono,” I explained, scrambling to stand up myself and jumping over the juice and sad-looking berries. “I- I  _ bumped  _ into-”

“ **_Bumped?_ ** Pidge, he  _ slammed  _ into me. What- Lance, where were you even running off to?”

“I- I needed to grab a few sheets of paper.”

“What for? It's ten a.m. You literally don't have to rush  _ at all _ .” 

“Well . . . I had an idea and I was going to tell Pidge . . . It's just- it's a  _ really  _ good idea.” 

“Good enough to ruin an entire carton of raspberries?”

“I mean . . .” I shrugged, Pidge still had a goofy grin on her face from when she suggested the kinky stuff. “Let's just say that you’d be surprised.” 

“Spill! You  _ have to  _ now!” Pidge chimed in, minutely clapping her hands together. 

“Oh, fine. For lunch, yesterday, I went to this New York-style corner restaurant because I  _ love  _ Garlic Knots. Anyway, the guy behind the counter . . . inspired me.”

Pidge grabbed a roll of paper towel and some Windex while I was talking, attempting to assist Hunk. 

“What do you mean ‘inspired’? Like, in a kinky way or-”

“Pidge! Holy shit what is it with you and kinks?!” I exclaimed, brushing both of my hands through my hair, regretting it immediately once I realised that there was juice on them too. 

“Christ, by  _ ‘inspired’  _ I mean like- Like a creative influence, a muse, an afflatus, other words that mean muse.”

“Why do you know so many synonyms?” Hunk asked, continuing to pick up the raspberries

“I looked them up because muse sounded too definite. I did it right before I came barreling out here and into you.” I responded sheepishly. 

“You like him. Don’t you? Cus, you’re in theatre? Doesn’t that, like, automatically make you gay or something?” Pidge asked, poking me repeatedly. 

“No! Stop it!” I yelled, blushing furiously. “It’s not like he had beautiful eyes or anything. I mean, his hair was pretty . . . great. I guess . . . ”   
“LANCE HAS A CRUSH AND IT’S ONLY DAY TWOOO!” Pidge shouted, sprinting around what open space was in our small living room. She came back out of breath. 

“So,” she panted, “which is it? Gay? Bi? Pan? Are you asexual? Do you just like his face? That would just be infatuation, though.”

“PIDGE.  **_Stop_ ** asking questions. I  _ will  _ answer your first one, however. I - admittedly - have never been with a woman either romantically or  _ err,  _ well yeah.  _ But,  _ I did have two boyfriends in High School that didn’t really end up anywhere significant.” 

“YES! Lance is bi!” Pidge did little air pumps and strutted away, obviously content with herself. Hunk walked over to me and raised a cautious eyebrow.

“Sorry about her. She did the same thing with me, but was quite disappointed with my answer because I’m straight.”

“Huh. Did she say what she is? Or did she just want to know about you?”

“I think she mentioned that she’s asexual, but not sure about the romantic side.”

“Well. This was not the conversation I thought I’d be having today! I just wanted some paper . . . “I pouted, clasping my hands together. 

“Oh, yeah. It’s over there on the desk by the door,” Hunk said, pointing to a stack of printer paper that I  _ definitely  _ should have seen by now. 

“Hey, thanks. I’m going to go take a shower to get this-  _ yuck,  _ sticky stuff off me.”

Hunk snickered and gave me a look. 

“No! Not you too.” I scolded, pointing at him menacingly. He put his hands up playfully and screamed quietly, staggering back to his room with what was salvaged from the raspberry massacre. 

I grabbed a few sheets from the paper pile and went back to my own room. I set the paper down on the desk and walked into the bathroom, once again removing my clothes. This shower was specifically to remove the red juice from various places, including my hair, and freshen up . . . I guess. 

Due to the fact that my white and blue shirt was now stained, I threw it into my laundry basket and rummaged around for a heavier sweatshirt. I was a bit too cold for comfort yesterday, so this was the best option. 

I decided on my University one that had ‘THEATRE’ in big blue letters on the back. I was glad that I had a cross-body bag so the text was at least semi-visible. The sweatshirt itself was light 11:30, so I decided to grab a bigger notebook and head to the NYC place. grey. I pulled it on as well as a pair of black sweatpants and my usual pair of shoes. It was about 

I walked in and immediately saw Keith. I smiled a bit to myself and walked up to the counter.    
“Hey there!” I waved slightly.

“Uh, hi. My name is Keith. Welcome to New York Taste. What can I get you?”

Huh, different greeting from yesterday. Maybe he got yelled at.

“I’ll take an order of Garlic Knots and a medium Sprite.”

“Oh. You’re the same guy from yesterday. I thought you looked familiar.”

“You recognized me from my order?”

He smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, you were order 17. The only person who ordered those yesterday.”

“It’s actually funny, that’s how old I am too!” I laughed, leaning against the counter.

“Wait, you’re only 17?” he asked, taking a small step back.

My smile faded slightly, “what do you mean ‘only’?”

He caught himself from saying something and stood a little taller, “nothing, I’ll get your order in just a sec.”

_ He must be a little older than me, then. I wonder by how much?  _

A few minutes later, he personally walked my food over to me. 

“I could have sworn that you were my age . . . “

“Which is?”

“Uhh, I’m 18. I’ll be 19 in a few weeks, though.”

“Oh, shit,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“Nothing, I-”

“No, I heard what you said, I was wondering why.”

“Nevermind that. Hey, when do you get off? I wanted to come by after my classes and pick up some Knots for my roommates as an apology . . . “

“Around nine. What’d you do?” He slid into the chair across from me and propped his head on his hands. 

“I was . . . I ran into one of them this morning - quite literally - and he was holding a container of raspberries. They were  _ everywhere.” _

“Is that why you smell like raspberries?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Actually it’s strawberry, and no. That’s just my shampoo.”

“Huh, suits you, stranger.”

“What? I thought you knew-”

“Your name? Not yet. I’ve gotten a wink and a short personal conversation, but no name.”

“Really? I could have  _ sworn . . . _ ”

“Yeah, not yet. Unless you enjoy being called ‘stranger’ in that case, don’t tell me.”

“Maybe I won’t.”

“Okay, but that’s not what I was aiming for.”

“Well, Keith, you’re going to have to call me ‘stranger’ from now on.” I pulled out my notebook and scribbled some words down:  _ “Stranger, strawberries, diner.”  _ Hoping that I’d remember the reason why later. Keith watched me write and looked at me quizzically. 

“What's the significance? Do you keep track of every conversation you have with someone?”

I laughed nervously before continuing, “no, this is a school thing, actually,” I lied, staring down at my handwriting.

“Really? One of your teachers gave you a project on the first day?”

I nodded quickly and closed my notebook, shoving the pen I used behind my ear.

After putting my notebook back, I looked down at my phone and my heart almost jumped out of my throat. I only had twenty minutes until one. I quickly shoved a few knots into my mouth and threw my money at Keith.

“Thanks so much for the chat! I don’t want to be late to class!” As I was zipping out the door I heard him behind me quickly say ‘huh, theatre.’  _ What’s that supposed to mean? _

 

I ran to my first class and got a seat right before it started. 

“Okay! Everyone up! Getchyo bootays down here! Let’s do some  **_improv!!_ ** ” Mr. L Sang, banging on the desks of the people in the front row.  _ Why are we doing improv in Performance Histories and Studies? This is going to be a long afternoon . . . _

I went through my classes, as usual, nothing too interesting happened other than improv in Performance History . . . On my way back I remembered that I wanted to pick some food up from- what was it? New York Taste? There.

I pushed through the doors for the second time that day and saw that no one else was in there other than Keith. The little diner was dimly lit, only having about four lights in the whole place. Keith’s face was illuminated by his phone, casting a soft glow over him and the wall behind him. 

“Hey, I said I’d come back, right?” I smiled, holding my arms slightly open. 

He flinched slightly and looked up smiling back when he saw it was me.

“Hey, stranger. Back for some Garlic Knots?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.” I pulled my wallet out of my bag and set the money on the counter while he went to the kitchen to grab the food. 

I took the time to look around and take in the décor. There were various ‘Welcome to New York!’ posters, as well as a few random license plates, tacked onto the walls.

When Keith came back, I decided to ask, “Hey, what’s with the awful decorating here?” 

He kind of chuckled and rung me up before answering, “That’s courtesy of my boss, Iverson.”

“Iverson? That sounds terrifying.”

“Shh,” He said dramatically, “He might hear you!” When he finished speaking, he raised his arms and shook his fingers like you would do if you were making ghost sounds.

“Ha! That’s great!” I laughed, rubbing my hands together.

“But in all seriousness, there are cameras all over this place. He totally sees everything.” I looked at him in concern but he quickly added, “don’t worry, I think it only captures picture.” 

“Well, I’m officially getting less sleep tonight!” Keith’s smile faded slightly and a faint blush crept across his face. He tried to hide it by blowing his nose, but his cheeks were still pink when he finished. 

I winked and picked up my food, “not quite there yet, sweetheart.” I turned around slowly and walked out the door, ignoring his requests for me to wait.  _ Oh god, I've turned into that girl from yesterday . . . _

Since I had to take a little detour to get to New York Taste from my last class, I was still about a  twenty-minute walk from my apartment and it was already dark outside. I would have loved to stay and talk with Keith, but I just didn’t have enough energy. 

On my walk back, I stopped in front of a store that had a bunch of stuffed animals in the window. There was a shark, a cat, a hippo, an owl, and a dog. The shark was obviously the coolest, but the hippo was pretty cute too. 

Suddenly struck with another wave of inspiration, I ran inside the store and headed straight for the stuffed animals. I grabbed the shark and the hippo and put them both on the checkout counter. 

“Hello there! Welcome to Stuffed Gifts Galore! My name is Plaxum, did you find everything alright?”

_ Plaxum? That's such a strange name. _

“Yeah, I saw these in the window. Uh, how much?” 

_ I didn't stop to check . . . Hopefully, it's not too bad. _

“The Happy Hippo and Surfer Shark are five dollars each,” she beamed.

“Okay, phew.” I took out eleven because . . . Tax . . . And waited for her to put the animals in a bag. She waited for a receipt to print out of a machine attached to the register and smiled again, “thank you  _ so  _ much for shopping with us today! We hope you have a beary good day!”

I plastered a slightly-concerned-but-polite smile on my face, taking the bag and almost running back to my apartment with the food and stuffed animals. 

 

I almost slammed the front door behind me and called for Hunk, “get out here! I brought a treat!” I placed the box of knots on the counter and opened them so they could be seen. I quickly darted into my room and set the animals on my desk. After I made sure that the bag wouldn't fall off, I skipped back to the kitchen to see Hunk just looking at the knots. 

Noticing me, he looked up and pointed to the food, “What are these?”

“An apology. For the raspberries.”

“Yeah, okay, but  _ what  _ are they?” 

“Oh! Garlic knots! You know, just the best food in the universe. Also, what I promised you for spilling your berries this morning. You know, the berr- Oh, crap! I forgot to actually get you raspberries. I uh . . . got caught up with . . . something important.”

“ _ WAS IT THAT HOT GUY FROM THE NEW YORK PLACE?”  _ Pidge yelled from her room, soon joining us in person. 

“Not quite? Well, sort of-”

“Yeah, cool,” she said, suddenly stoic. Hunk looked at her strangely and I just decided to ignore her antics. 

“But, you  _ have  _ to try them. They’re so good! Also, this was the second time I got them today, and they cost seven dollars. You have to like them.”

“Well, I’ll let you know. But, Lance?”

“Yeah?” I responded, rubbing my hand over my eyes.

“Go to bed. You look exhausted.”

“But I have to write-”

“Is it homework?”

“No, but-”

“Bed. Now. Go.”

I smiled sleepily and complied, shuffling into my room and kicking off my shoes. I took the time to set my sweatshirt and jeans in my laundry basket before collapsing in my bed, falling asleep thinking about what I’d write about when given the chance.

 

_ “Hey, Lance?”  _ A soft knock came at my door. I groggily looked over at my clock. Big red letters blinked back at me, ‘2:38 am.’ 

“Who-” I began, my throat neglecting to produce sound. I cleared my throat and tried again, “Who’s there?” I didn’t get up because my sheets were warm. I was so comfortable that I almost fell asleep waiting for them to reply.

_ “Pidge.”  _ The voice whispered back. 

“Come in. Door’s open.”

She slowly turned the doorknob and entered, a dark silhouette in my almost equally dark room.

“What’s up?” I asked, squinting up at her, my eyes betraying me. 

“I- uhh. Nevermind, it’s dumb,” she began to leave, but I asked her to stay.

“It’s fine, really. Is something wrong?”

“It’s just- Whenever I have a nightmare back home, I always go into my brother’s room. You aren’t even remotely like him, but you’re closer than Hunk.”

“Wait, woah. Slow down. You had a nightmare?” I was sitting up now, ignoring the cold air that hit me when I pushed the covers back. 

“It’s no big deal, I’m mainly just a bit homesick, I guess. I really miss Matt . . . “

“His name is Matt? Do you want to tell me about him? Does he look like you?” I tapped the bed space next to me and watched carefully for her response.

“Oh, yeah.” She kind of lit up with that question, agreeing to my motion for her to sit down.

“When we were a little younger, people always used to assume that we were twins, but that was before I cut my hair. I had long hair and bangs before this. Right now, if I were standing next to him, I would look like his younger brother. Or a shorter twin brother.”

“Do you two have the same haircut?”

“Actually, yes! I wanted to do that so I could bring a piece of him with me here.”

“That’s sweet. Are you very close? It sounds like you are.”

“Definitely. We used to do everything together. He’d talk about how much he wanted to be an astronaut, and I’d gush about how cool the technology of the ships would be. We spent most of our childhood geeking out about space and science.”

Pidge and I kept talking for a solid hour after she’d come in. I was happy to, though. I used to do this all the time with my younger siblings and I had no problem staying up a bit later if it meant comforting a friend. Especially since I didn’t have classes tomorrow, just a few hours of work. 

After Pidge had left and gone back to sleep, I sat at my desk and started writing the beginning of a letter. I didn’t care that it was almost four, or that I was super tired. Motivation is the best drug. So is happiness, but that phrase is used for different circumstances. 

Anyway, started writing the letter.

_ Dear Violet Eyes, _

  
  



	3. (Part 1 of) Day Three, Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first half of day three. Lance talks with Pidge some more, tries to get lunch, and goes to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay :( I knew how I wanted this day to go, but I just had a super difficult time writing it. I also didn't want this chapter to feel forced, so that's why it's the first half and not the entire day. Also, sorry for the excuses. REGARDLESS, I hope you enjoy!! Make sure to leave comments so I know how you feel :)

Dear Violet Eyes,

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get past those three words. I knew everything I wanted to say, but I couldn’t put my thoughts to paper. I didn’t have an audience for it either, though. It was just for me, no one else had to read it. So I wrote. I wrote everything that came to mind. No matter how out there or grammatically incorrect, I wrote.  
In the end, it turned out to be a bit of a mess. Scribbles covered words or phrases that I wanted to get rid of and my hand had smeared some of the ink. This is what I got after a few minutes of editing:

Dear Violet Eyes,  
I met you one day and you turned me around the next. I fell quickly for you and don’t regret a second. If one day we meet again as more than friends, I hope this finds you. Along with my feelings, you took my breath. When I first saw you I was speechless and almost ruined it all with one word. Now that word is all I can think of whenever I’m dreaming. Day or night. You remind me of crisp laughter and cool breezes. Again, if this comes into your possession, it means that you mean more to me. You shouldn’t call me a stranger because that’s not what we are.   
I will see you soon,  
Lance

It wasn’t gorgeous or grandiose, but it was nice. I had no intention of actually giving the letter to him, but if the time ever came, this was the way to do it.  
Noticing that my clock now read almost 6 am, decided that I should at least try to get some sleep. Normally I’d say that sleep is for the weak, but right now, my hand was shaking. Getting up from my desk, I knocked over the bag of toys I had bought the day before. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them, but they were there if I ever needed.  
I climbed back into bed and tried to ignore the early light that was begging to stream through my window.   
I ended up only sleeping for about two more hours because Pidge ran into my room again.  
“Okay, you better have a good reason for this. I saw you less than seven hours ago,” I grumbled, not moving from under the covers.   
“Yeah, thanks for that, by the way. But I think you'll enjoy my little story.” After I sat up, she situated herself between my legs so she didn't fall off.  
“Okay, so I wanted to know this guy that you've been talking about-”  
“Oh, Pidge. You didn't . . . “  
“Well, no. Not exactly. I walked in and while a guy who matched your description was there, he was asleep on the counter. Cute, though. His hair was all floof whenever he breathed. He doesn't snore, so that's something.”  
“Pidge! Did you just leave after that or something?”  
She laughed and just smiled.  
“Seriously, what did you do?”  
“Well, I shook him awake and told him that I was Pidge. I also told him that ‘my friend likes you.’ He kind of looked at me like I was crazy and went about laying down. I shook him again and asked if I could order something. He groaned a little then sat up. I asked for garlic knots-”  
“Wait, what?”  
“I asked for garlic knots-”  
“Yeah, I heard you, why did you do that?!” By this point, I was sitting up. I had scooted back so Pidge had to readjust.   
“He told me the other day that he remembered me because I was the only person who ever ordered garlic knots!”  
Rather than being shocked, Pidge looked like she had just realised something.  
“That's why he flinched. I thought he was just weird.”  
“Wait, did you tell him my name?” She laughed at me but figured out quickly that I wasn't kidding.  
“You haven't told him your name yet? What does he call you?”  
I looked down and got quiet.  
“Lance, what does he call you?” She was shaking me now, a playful grin on her face.  
“Stranger . . . “ I mumbled, ignoring her gaze.   
“You can't be serious. Are you messing with me? You haven't told the guy you like what your name is. Wow.”   
“To be fair, he is almost 19.”  
“You do know that age of consent here is 16? And that you're 17? It's completely fine for you to date him.”  
I guess it would just be a little weird to date someone who's that much older, though . . .  
“You're thinking that it's weird, aren't you?”  
I crossed my legs and looked at Pidge with wide eyes.   
“How did you . . ?”  
“Everyone I know thinks I'm magical.”  
I squinted my eyes at her and tilted my head a little to the left.   
“No, not really. I'm just super observant.” She pushed herself off my bed and headed toward the door.   
“By the way, we're having garlic knots for breakfast,” she winked, closing my door behind her  
Great. He knows I like him . . .

At around noon, I packed my bag with my red swim shorts and a book. I also threw in a few snacks. Before school started, I got a job at an indoor pool as a lifeguard. The pool was mainly a place for kids to learn to swim, but sometimes it was open to the public.   
Today was scheduled to be both, so it would be interesting to see how that worked out.   
In the main area, there were three pools. One for kids, it was about 2-½ feet deep, one that was 4 to 10 feet deep, and a lap pool. I was the lifeguard for both the small and large pools.   
My boss texted me this morning after Pidge left and told me that he’d hired a lifeguard for the lap pool. He’s a fairly tall man, thin as a twig too. He has long red hair that sort of flairs at the bottom, and he always talks like a prestigious TV announcer. It doesn’t bother me, though. He’s super nice and gets me in a weird adult way.  
He told me that the new hire was a young woman around my age who was very energetic. He didn’t go into much detail but he said that I’d like her. When I asked why she’d be joining us he told me that she was his friend’s daughter. I thought that it was a sort of obscure answer, but I went with it because we were understaffed.  
On my way out, I checked the fridge to see if anyone had gone to the store yet. We had butter, milk, and whipped cream. Why those were the three most important things to get, I have no idea. Sighing, I readjusted the strap on my shoulder and started to leave.  
Pidge walked slowly out of her room and checked the fridge like I did. She looked at me and smiled before tilting her head at my bag.  
“Where ya goin’?”  
I looked down at my bag then back at her, “I work at a pool not too far from here.”  
“Pool? What, like an indoor one?” She shut the door to the fridge and sat on the kitchen table.   
I nodded, “Yeah, it’s nice though. I got used to the chlorine smell a while ago. And it’s heated.”  
“Did you know that the element that’s put in pools is actually called either sodium or calcium hypochlorite?”  
“Why do you know that? How is that a piece of information that was important enough for you to store in your brain?” I leaned back on the top of the couch, making sure I didn’t push it.   
She thought for a second, then shrugged. When I went to stand, she stopped me.  
“Wait. Can I go with you?”  
“Don’t you have classes today?” She pouted and shuffled back to her room, slowly closing the door behind her.   
Man, I should really get something to eat. I’m so hungry!  
I decided to get something else at the NY place. No matter how much I loved garlic knots, they were not the best thing to have on a daily basis. 

I pushed the door open, smiling at the sound a little bell made. There was already someone waiting at the counter, so I stood behind them and read the menu. I decided on a simple plate of nachos and waited for the person in front of me to leave.  
When they didn’t, I asked how long they’d been waiting.   
“Oh, I dunno. The guy who was helping me checked his watch about halfway through my order and then went back there.” They pointed to a red door with a circle window that peered into what could only be the kitchen.   
I walked over to the door and knocked softly. When there was no reply, I called out.  
“Hey, Keith? You back there, man? Is everything okay?” He didn’t respond. I tried pushing the door to see if he was alright, but it didn’t budge.  
“No.” He mumbled.   
He must be pushing against the other side.  
“Keith? Are you alright?” Again, no reply. I turned back to the person at the counter and shrugged. They sighed deeply and left. The little bell rang.   
Keith shifted behind the door but didn’t get up.  
“Okay, bye. Will you let me get lunch tomorrow?” I asked, a slight twinge of annoyance in my voice. I left before he could say anything, not that he would. I’ll just have to get some snacks from the vending machine. I wonder what’s up with him? I mean, who hides in the kitchen?!   
I decided it was best not to think about it too much, and headed in the direction of the pool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How important is Allura.........?


	4. (Part 2 of) Day Three, Lockers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance continues his shift as a lifeguard. Some little things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TWO PARTS IN ONE DAY LOOK AT ME GO. SUPER THANKS to the guest user justklancetrash4lyfe for leaving really nice comments on the last part :))) (I like shoutouts can you tell) ANYWAY I was feeling motivated, despite the painnn in my throat. SCHOOL WHY. Also, I should probably be sleeping rn, so enjoy this hastily-written part. OH, ALSO day three has earned 3 parts. So that's a thing that will happen.

_ I hate that the swim uniform is red. Who looks good in red? Honestly.  _ I changed into the shorts and walked out to my chair. My boss, Coran, was already there. He was standing next to that woman I saw in the elevator a few days ago. 

“Hello, Lance! This is Allura, she is our new guard.”

I smiled, shaking her hand gently, “Hey there. We live in the same building, right?”

She grinned back at me and nodded, “I believe we do, actually. How peculiar!”

“Well,” Coran said, clapping his hands together, “I’ll leave you two. As you both know, we open in about five minutes, so be ready!” 

He almost skipped back to his office, humming the whole way there. 

“Alright then, nice meeting you, Lance,” Allura smiled, turning to go to her chair across the room. 

Sighing, I climbed onto my chair and sprawled out, letting the arms cradle me. I pulled the book from my bag and started reading.  _ I’ll stop when kids start coming in, they’re really the only ones I need to keep an eye on.  _

As I finished the chapter, a young girl skipped in, her mom in tow. She was wearing a lilac one-piece with frills around the waist, a huge sun hat that had to be her mom’s, and striking cat-eye sunglasses. It was  _ quite  _ the look. 

Her mom looked tired and in need of a nap. I sat on my book so it didn’t get wet and turned my attention to the additional patrons filing through the respective locker room doors. 

A group of teen boys barreled from the left, almost breaking the ‘no jumping’ rule. On the right, two younger women strolled in from the left, both carrying small children. 

I was glad that there were so many people here today. Most days it’s like an elderly water yoga thing or ‘baby’s first swim lesson’ that last for about three hours. While planned events like these pay more than open-to-public days, they are  _ far  _ less interesting. I enjoyed the people watching. It was a pretty easy gig, too. Every young child had a guardian, and every older person could - hopefully - swim well enough to keep themselves from drowning. 

About half-way through my shift, a guy wearing a black hoodie and swim shorts walked in on my side. He had the hood up and seemed a bit shifty. Instead of taking the zip-up off, he made his way to a secluded lounge chair and sat on the very end. I was surprised to see that it didn’t fall forward under his weight - not that he looked like a very heavy man. 

I wanted to watch him more, but splashing from the kid pool grabbed my attention. The little girl was in distress, and her tired mother was nowhere in sight. 

I hopped off my chair swiftly and stepped down into the pool. Even though the water only came up to my knees, it’s difficult to run in. 

I kneeled down and pulled the girl onto my thighs, brushing her hair out of her face.

“Are you alright, little miss?”

She gave two little coughs then nodded. 

“Can you tell me your name?”

“I’m Alice,” she mumbled.

“Hello, Alice! My name is Lance. What grade are you in?”

“Mummy says I shouldn’t talk to strangers.”

I smiled at the word, “Well I’m not a stranger! I just told you my name, silly! Do you know where your mom is?”

She nodded twice, then pointed back to the locker room they had come from. 

“Can you stand?” I asked, pulling her up by her hands. The water came up to the frills on her suit as she waded with me back to the edge of the pool, never letting go of my hand. I helped her up the ladder before hopping out myself, and guided her over to the lounge chair where her mother’s things were. 

“Can you stay here for me? If anyone strange comes over to you . . . “ I thought for a second, “just scream. Really loud. Can you do that?”

She nodded again, this time with enthusiasm. 

“Great. Okay, stay here. I’m going to get your mom.” I walked over to the entrance of the women’s locker room and called in, “Hello? This is Lance, one of the lifeguards on duty. Is Alice’s mother in here?” I waited for a second before hearing a soft ‘huh?’ from inside.

“Hello? Is Alice’s mother there?” I heard a sigh and some shifting before footsteps got closer. 

“Yes?” An annoyed-looking woman stood before me, her arms hanging limp and her shoulders drawn forward. 

“Hi! I’m Lance. Your daughter was having some trouble in the pool, so I helped her out. She’s completely fine, but I was curious as to where you’d gone.”

“Are you saying I’m a bad parent?”

“Not at all, Ma’am. I’m simply wondering why you left your child in the pool unsupervised.”

“You were there, right? Isn’t that supervised enough?”

“Well, Ma’am, we do have a policy stated here,” I pointed to the sign next to me, “that says that all children under the age of eight should have parental supervision. That is,  _ on top  _ of the lifeguard on duty.”

She simply scowled at me and brushed passed to get to the lounge chairs. 

I let her sit with Alice and headed back to my chair. When I had situated myself in the almost comically large seat, I looked around for the shifty dude. While I saw the discarded hoodie on a chair, the man under it wasn’t near it. I scanned the pools and noticed a new person swimming in the deep end of the larger one.

_ Hey, wait a minute. I’d recognise that mullet anywhere. _

I contemplated calling his name but decided against it. Who knows how many people here could be named ‘Keith.’

_ Wait, why was he wearing a hoodie? Does he normally wear heavy clothing to pools?   _

I didn’t know. I did, however, notice that we were both staring directly at each other. 

_ Shit.  _ **_Shit_ ** . I swallowed hard and focused back on the swimmers. 

“Hey, stranger. Sorry about lunch,” He called, lazily drifting over to me. “I didn’t know that you worked here.”

“Yeah,” I said dully, trying to conceal a rising blush with my hand, “I started about a month or so ago. Today is an off day for me, though. Normally I’m here on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Thursdays are strange for me.”

“That’s probably why I haven’t seen you, then.” He looked me up and down, shedding his shy attitude for something a bit more forward. 

“You look nice in red,” He commented biting the inside of his cheek. That caught me off guard, causing my eyes to go wide.

“Are you serious? No one ‘looks good in red.’” 

“You do,” he shrugged, pushing himself out of the water and sitting on the floor below my chair. “I think I do too.”

I noticed that we were wearing similar shorts and proceeded to blush further.

“So, I met your friend Pidge the other day,”  _ no no no no no no no,  _ “She’s very . . . forward. I learned that she has a friend who-”

“Yeah? That’s weird.” I said, scratching my neck.

“I didn’t even say-”

“Really strange. Huh, I wonder who they could be? Do you like any-  _ know  _ anyone who would-”

“Stranger. Calm down.”  _ Oh yeah, I forgot about that . . . _

I took a breath and looked at him. His skin glistened under the harsh lights, and his hair was just slightly wet, causing it to shine slightly when he moved. If I hadn’t liked him before, I definitely would have then. He was certainly a sight for sore eyes, that’s for sure. 

“When do you get off work?” He asked, playing with the ends of his hair. 

_ I need to stop getting ahead of myself. Channel fully-clothed Lance . . . hookay _

“I get off- My shift ends in an hour.” He smiled timidly, returning to his former approach, and nodded. 

My shifts weren’t normally long, so getting off at five was about right.  _ Maybe I’ll have enough to get that roasted chicken from the store. That’d be a nice change from cereal and Dr. Pepper . . . _

“Hey? Earth to stranger? Anyone home?” Keith raised an eyebrow at me and looked up cautiously as I thought about grocery plans. 

“Oh! Sorry, I was thinking about . . . something else . . . “ 

“What?”

“Hmm? You want to know?” I asked, taking the confused role.

“Yeah, I mean, you looked pretty intent on whatever it was you were thinking about,” he shrugged, looking down at his feet. 

“Oh, I was actually just thinking about getting a chicken for my roommates and me.”

“Wait. Like, an actual chicken? Because I don’t think you can do that.”

“What? No! I mean a roasted chicken. From the grocery store! Why would I buy a live chicken for the apartment?!” 

He was laughing quietly to himself, enjoying the response he’s elicited from me.

“I’ll leave you to guarding people’s lives. Look for me in the lobby when you go to leave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> READ MEEEE 
> 
> Leave soft kinks or whatever below, we're gonna sin in the next part, folks.   
> :)


	5. (Part 3 of) Day 3, Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith get to know each other a little better ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Hey. Guess who's sick!! yayyy. Here is the final part of day three, it's a bit longer than the other parts because . . . reasons. Let me know what you think in the comments below!! Thank you so much to everyone who reads :)

I finished lacing up my shoes and put my slightly damp shorts into a plastic bag I grabbed from a dispenser on the wall. I put them into my bag, along with my book which I laid on top. 

I didn’t end up getting anything from a vending machine, but I’d be getting home with groceries soon, so I wasn’t worried. 

Pulling the bag over my head, I headed out to the lobby to see if Keith was, in fact, waiting like he said he would. He was. 

“Hey there, hero,” he chortled, a devious twinkle in his eyes.

“How do you mean?” I questioned, looking him over quickly. He was wearing something I hadn’t seen him in before since he had to wear a uniform to work. He had on black jeans, a grey top, and a red cropped leather-looking jacket. His boots were black, red, and white; they also looked like leather. 

“Quite the getup, by the way.”

“Thanks, not too bad yourself. I was just remembering how you so bravely saved that little girl from drowning earlier today.  _ And  _ you spoke with the sharks! How brave.”

“I’m sure that mom was just- she probably had a lot on her plate.”

“Huh, is that so?” He tilted his head, smirking slightly.

I nodded once and took a quick breath, “so, ready to shop?”

“What? That’s what we’re doing? Oh, you were serious about the chicken.”

“It’s **_chicken!_ ** ” 

 

The store wasn’t too far from the pool, but it was a ways from the apartment, so I made sure to keep the number of items to a minimum. 

When we walked in, Keith immediately grabbed a cart and rushed away with it.

“Hey, wait!” I tried jogging after him, but he disappeared quickly and I didn’t feel like running. 

Focusing on my mental list, I set off with a cart of my own. I grabbed, in no particular order, potato chips, the roast chicken, a new carton of raspberries, a loaf of bread, a tub of ice cream, and some napkins. It wasn’t much, but then again, none of us stayed too long before grabbing something out or going to classes. 

Once satisfied with my findings, I set out for the self-checkout. 

About halfway through ‘placing my items in the bagging area,’ Keith showed up with quite the . . . He showed up with a cart full of pumpkins, knives, and candles. 

“Wha- Keith?”

“Yes?” He sang, clapping his hands behind his back and leaning toward me. 

“Why do you have four pumpkins?”

“Have you never made a jack-o-lantern before?” 

I finished placing my items into bags and put the bags back into the cart. 

He giggled softly as I looked at him in confusion.

“Only when I was younger. I haven't carved a pumpkin for . . . Like, ten years?”

His jaw dropped but he didn't stop checking the items. 

“How have you not- you know what? It doesn't matter. You're doing it tonight.”

“Really? Why do you have four pumpkins, then?” 

“One for each of us, silly.”

“Okay, so, one: you don't know my name, two: you don't know  _ either  _ of my roommates,  _ three _ : only one of them knows  _ you, _ and four: that's just super awkward. Have you met Pidge?”

He placed the knives in a bag along with the candles. 

“I have, but that's okay.”

“Ok _ ay?  _ Keith, both of them know that-”

“Know what?” He paid and ripped the receipt from the machine.

“You know . . . “

“Enlighten me.”

“Nevermind,” I pushed my cart over to the area where carts go. Is there a name for that? The cart area, and picked all of my bags up. I only had three bags, so it wasn't too difficult to hold all of them at once. In Keith’s case, however, he had no way of carrying all of his items without a cart.

“What’re you going to do with the cart?”

“I'm going to take it with us. How else would I get the stuff to your place?”

“What, are you just going to roll it into the elevator?”

He nodded and started walking for the entrance.

“Wai- woah woah woah, wait for me!” I called, scrambling to catch up while holding all of the bags properly. 

“Glad you caught up. I have no idea how to get to your place.” 

I laughed and gently pushed his cart around, “I can tell. You're going the wrong direction.”

His cheeks flushed slightly, “I knew that.”

“Keith.”

“Yeah? Hey- don't give me that look. Fi- Okay, okay, I didn't know.” 

“Is it really that easy to get you to talk?” 

He stuck his tongue out and continued walking.

 

We didn't talk much for the rest of the walk home. A few ‘hey look at that’s here, a couple ‘why did you show me that?’s there.

When we walked inside, the desk person gave us a strange look but didn't say anything. I pushed the button for the elevator and stepped back. 

No one got off, so we carefully rolled the cart inside and situated ourselves around it. 

“So,” I said, pushing the button for my floor, “what are you going to do with this once we take the stuff out?” 

“Leave it in the hall,” he shrugged.

I made a face at him, causing him to smirk.

“Hey, now. No one will know it was us.”

“Try again, bond. Cameras are in every hallway.”

He looked at me like I was lying, “no way.”

“Way,” I sighed, enjoying this very _ very  _ fruitful conversation.

The elevator dinged and I stepped out, letting Keith push the cart out. I guided him to the door and placed my bags in the cart - which, come to think of it, I should have done earlier. I pulled out my keys and opened the door, glad to be home. 

Hunk was sitting on the couch doing homework, and Pidge wasn't here yet. Hunk looked up at the sound of squeaking and metal, immediately concerned who I'd brought home.

“Let me guess. You're Keith, aren't you?” He asked flatly. Keith nodded slightly and walked forward to shake his hand. 

Hunk stood, “uh, no. I'm a hugger,” he laughed, wrapping Keith in his arms. Keith let out a little strangled noise before Hunk let him go. 

“We bought stuff,” I commented after making sure Keith was alright. 

“What type of stuff?” Hunk replied, walking over to our stolen cart. He gave me a look when he noticed the knives. 

“Jack-o-lanterns,” Keith quickly added. I nodded quickly to ensure that we weren't going to . . . I don't know, do weird stuff with knives? What do people do with knives other than cook and cut food? Well,  _ normal  _ people.

I grabbed the bags of food and brought them to the kitchen counter, beginning to unload them.

I left the chicken and raspberries out but put everything else away.

“These are for the other day,” I smiled sheepishly, handing the carton to Hunk. He grinned and quickly made his way to the sink to wash them off. 

“Do you know when Pidge’ll be here?” I asked, glancing at the time. It was only 7:15 pm. _ I think Pidge’s classes ended around now, but I don't know if she works.  _

“Soon,” Hunk commented around a mouthful of berries. 

“Cool. I had this idea, we could all carve pumpkins because it’s totally almost Halloween.”

“Keith? Is it Keith? Yeah, okay, first of all, it’s September. Second of all, La-”

“Shh! Don’t say my name,” I quickly placed my hand over Hunk’s mouth. He looked at me like I had just told him the Earth was flat.

“L-A, huh? Is your name Lawrence?”

I scoffed, “please, it would obviously be something cooler than  _ Lawrence.” _

“Jeez, hating on all the Lawrence’s out there man. So, what  _ does  _ he call you then? My guy, my dude? Guy who likes m-”

“Hunk, I will physically hurt you.”

“Eh, unlikely.” He went back to his spot on the couch and continued doing his homework. 

I had been fortunate enough in my classes not to get any myself, but Hunk looked like he had to read a few chapters in a textbook. Yikes. 

“Wait,” Keith said, putting the pumpkins on the table, “are you going to carve a one? Or, have dinner? Mr. Stranger got a roast chicken, he said he was super excited about it, too.”

“L- Can I just say your name? I don’t want to have to call you ‘stranger.’ If anything, Keith should be the stranger.” I shook my head in response, taking the top off of the chicken container. 

“Fine. Are we just having chicken, or is there a side?”

“Do you consider potato chips a side?” I offered hopefully.

“Yeah, no.”

“Okay, then there’s your answer.” 

Keith stood quietly against the wall, examining the living and kitchen spaces as well as how we spoke to each other. 

 

After I finished cutting and serving dinner, Pidge walked in and noticed Keith immediately. We had a similar conversation to the one with Hunk, but it resulted in Pidge grabbing her plate and retreating to her room. Hunk went to his shortly after, as well, leaving Keith and me alone. 

“So, when  _ will  _ I learn your name?” He asked quietly, twirling his plastic fork on the paper plate.

“When it’s time,” I responded vaguely, finishing my food.

“See, what does that mean? Like, what are the parameters for the ‘right time?’ Is it something specific?”

I thought for a second, biting the inside of my lip, “yes.”

“Ookay? And? What do I have to do for you to tell me your name? I can’t get your attention or  . . . If I don’t know your name.”

“Or what? Do you mean-”

“Hey, stay on subject. When do I get to know your name?”

I sighed, standing up. I threw my plate and fork away and headed for my room.

“Hey, get back here! I was talking to you!” 

“Follow me!” I called back, opening a drawer on my desk and pulling out the letter, as well as taking the hippo plush from the bag on the floor.

He pushed open my door a little more and stood at the threshold, waiting for me to turn around. Walking forward when I turned around.

“Okay, first of all, I saw this in a store window and for some reason thought of you,” I gave him the hippo, “second of all, I wrote this . . . Jeez, this morning? Wow, long day. And the closing doesn’t really apply since I’m standing in front of you.”

He took the hippo first, admiring the soft lilac animal. When he reached for the letter, I hesitated. 

“Don’t- don’t get- just-”

“Okay.” I loosened my grip on the paper, letting him slide it from between my fingers. 

I watched his face as he read. The whole time it was a soft smile until he got to the end. 

“Lance,” He breathed. For some reason, it sent shivers down my spine and made my breath hitch. 

Smiling wider at my response, he said it again, “Lance.”

“Yes, Keith?”

“Is a name that means ‘assistant’ really cooler than Lawrence?”

“Oh, shut up!” I pouted, pushing his shoulder gently. 

He smirked and pushed me back, “make me.”

_ Ooh. Okay, I have to. I’ve always wanted to- screw it. _

“I will!” I told him

“Oh, yeah?” He challenged.

“But you might moan a little,” I said, winking and stepping a little closer. His smile wavered for a second as a furious blush spread across his cheeks. I lined my face up with his and leaned toward him, testing to see if he’d pull back. 

When he didn’t I breathed, “Keith?”

“Yes,  _ Lance _ ”

“Is this okay?” I didn’t want to kiss him if he didn’t want to be kissed. 

Instead of responding, he slowly reached his hands up to my shoulders, then to my hair, playing with it slightly. Then, before I could react, he pulled my head forward, pressing our lips together. I slipped my arms around his waist and pressed against him. When he broke the kiss, we held our foreheads together, looking each other in the eye. His eyes were slightly lidded and filled with lust.

I lifted him up, letting him wrap his legs tightly around me, and pushed him into a wall. I immediately started kissing his jaw, right below his ear. 

He let out a breathy moan and leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. 

“I told you,” I murmured against his skin. He laughed quietly, looking back down and pecking my temple.

“You’re such a flirt, Lance.” He seemed to like saying my name. Ever since he’d learned it, he said it in almost every sentence. 

I continued sucking and leaving little spots on his neck. I tested a bite, eliciting a ‘haa’ from his mouth. 

“Too much?” I asked cautiously, afraid that I’d hurt him.

“Not enough.” He drew a quick breath as I continued, lifting him up more so I could reach his collarbone. After leaving little trails on one side, I quickly realised that there was too much clothing involved.

I let him down, still keeping him pressed against the wall, and removed his jacket. He leaned into a kiss, helping me pull mine off too. I started playing with the hem of his shirt before deciding to slip my hand under it and up his back, pulling him closer. 

“So . . _ haa _ . . . needy,” he breathed between kisses. 

When I was just about to pull his shirt over his head, I heard a knock at the door. I pulled back for a second, leaning my head against his and listening, also allowing myself to catch my breath. 

“Lance, you know you left the door open, right?” It was Pidge’s voice. I froze, standing a little taller and trying to hide Keith. 

“Yeah, I’ll just . . . close this. Also, hey Keith.” I heard the sound of the door clicking and looked down awkwardly.

“So, uh-”

“Don’t care, keep kissing,” he said quickly, wrapping his hands around the back of my neck and pulling me deep into a kiss. Every time our lips connected it was like a little shock running between us. 

Quickly growing tired of just kissing, I slowly lowered my hand down to his groin, nodding at him before going any further.

“Stop teasing, it’s fine. Just  _ do it, _ ” he whined, throwing his head back. I smiled devilishly as a thought popped into my head. Instead of palming him, I unbuttoned his jeans. 

“Fucking, Lance! Come on!” His head snapped down and he turned us around, pushing  _ me  _ against the wall. He pulled his shirt off, then mine, searching my chest with his hands before pushing into another kiss. He unbuttoned my pants quickly, pushing them down as far as he could without breaking the connection. I kicked them down the rest of the way and reached for his zipper, quickly discarding his jeans too. 

He stepped back for a second, looking me up and down, his eyes stopping at the obvious bulge in my boxers. 

“ _Shit . . . you’re beautiful_ ,” He murmured. 

I pushed off the wall and took his head in my hands, angling it up so I could press a kiss to his lips. I picked him up again, this time dropping him on my bed.

Without breaking our kisses, I reached down and palmed him through his underwear, causing him to moan.

“You’re easy to please,” I commented, barely touching his lips. 

“Jus-”

“Hey, Lance? You busy?”  _ Hunk _ .

“Kind of!” I replied, irritation in my voice. 

“Great, well, Pidge says she needs to tell you some-”

“Tell Pidge that she can shove it!” That was Keith. He was starting to get impatient, and his breaths started to get ragged. 

“Thanks, Keith. Anyway, Lance, She really-”

“Not. Now.” I was growing annoyed myself and decided that it was time that Keith’s boxers came off. 

“Wait, Lance.” I stopped, looking at Keith. He looked crazy good. His hair was slightly tousled, his cheeks were bright red, and his chest heaved. 

“What? Is something wrong?”

“He’s . . . he’s still there . . . I- I . . .” His eyes shifted from me to the door and back.

“Hunk?” I called.

“Yeah? You coming out yet?”

“About that, you need to go. Away from the door. Now.”

“But Pidge-”

“GO.”

Quick footsteps padded away from the door, causing Keith to sigh. 

I looked at him from my place at his knees, “all good?” I played with the skin under the band of his underwear. 

He nodded slightly, running his fingers through my hair. 

“Fantastic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA 
> 
> I feel so evil. 
> 
> No one actually left any comments on the last part, so I just kind of went with widely accepted head-cannons. 
> 
> Yep.


End file.
